Pure. That is the single specific word I think of when I listen to Jamie Drake's sound. Her voice and her melody and especially the sheer weight of her emotion bathed in a comfortable embracing charm on Oh Well Oh Well feels so damn beautiful. The production flourishes, the beautiful orchestration around the perfectly EQ'd organic piano sound helps but it is her voice and aesthetic that grabs you by the shirt collars and pulls you close. In her sort of normal register, her vocals sound so intimate and when she pushes out her voice in higher registers you feel that emotional vibe closer to the brink and it is as if you unintentionally inhale to a sort of mild gasp. This song about an existential crisis of sorts spins in a lot of ways. The complexities of thought and emotion are cradled in a big classic ballad sort of way pushed through a (to me) mid 70's chamber pop filter.
This woman's successes are too many for my pretendsive ADHD mind to list but you can read down below. You know me, I like to simply write about how songs affect me. Oh Well Oh Well is from her "Everything's Fine" album. You can find Jamie on Spotify and other streaming services.
From the woman herself:
“‘Oh Well Oh Well’ was written in the wake of my loss of faith in God a number of years ago. Some people choose to discard their faith; mine simply disappeared as if someone important to me died one day and it felt like I could no longer understand a language I had known my whole life. This experience left me feeling as though I was walking around in the dark for many years. ‘Oh Well Oh Well’ celebrates the loss and confusion we experience as humans when we know that hope is just around the corner. I think this, in part, is what faith is, essentially. It takes faith to know that even if you are feeling like it is the end right now, in this moment—that at some point, you will be ok.”
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Robb Donker
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM- PRESS NOTES:
“‘Oh Well Oh Well’ was written in the wake of my loss of faith in God a number of years ago. Some people choose to discard their faith; mine simply disappeared as if someone important to me died one day and it felt like I could no longer understand a language I had known my whole life. This experience left me feeling as though I was walking around in the dark for many years. ‘Oh Well Oh Well’ celebrates the loss and confusion we experience as humans when we know that hope is just around the corner. I think this, in part, is what faith is, essentially. It takes faith to know that even if you are feeling like it is the end right now, in this moment—that at some point, you will be ok.”
"Oh Well Oh Well" follows up the release of "Redwood Tree" from Everything's Fine. The song premiered at AudioFemme and is available on all streaming services. AudioFemme raves, "Jamie Drake presents a portrait of herself as singer-songwriter driven by both pop sensibilities and sweeping cinematic tendencies, both of which make 'Redwood Tree' a 'tentpole' on the album’s tracklist. The feeling of floating through reality displays itself beautifully on the track, its delicate arrangement meandering through a forest so lush, so thick and untouched by human hands, you never want to leave."
Jamie Drake also announced fall tour dates and shows in California with DeVotchka. The fall tour will include shows in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and more. All upcoming shows are listed below.
Within the last few years, Jamie Drake has collaborated with the likes of Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Mikael Jorgensen (Wilco), and Moby. She’s also toured with accomplished performers such as Sara & Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek, J.S. Ondara, Shawn Colvin and The Lone Bellow.
Her numerous film and TV credits include composing the theme for the CW series Life Sentence, and she has performed at major music events like SXSW in Austin, Musician’s Corner in Nashville, Jubilee: A Celebration of Jerry Garcia at The Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, and Folk Alliance International in Quebec. Noting her performance in a theatrical revue of 1960’s folk music, The New York Times stated, “Jamie Drake, embodying Judy Collins, quietly claims the show’s best moment with a revelatory version of ’Turn, Turn, Turn.’”
From her nomadic childhood with gypsy parents where she was constantly the new kid in town, to overcoming heartbreak and divorce and being the ultimate late bloomer, Everything’s Fine gives Jamie permission to take the spotlight at age 39 and be her weird and wild-eyed self on center stage.
Everything’s Fine flourishes around around Drake’s enchanting voice (and her three-octave range) with nine songs that are simultaneously familiar -- written with a dash of old Hollywood glamour -- yet all the while fresh and inventive. The album title is emblematic of her generally optimistic – and disarmingly funny -- personality, exploring the insecurity and exhilaration that comes with starting a new chapter of her life.
“So much of day-to-day life is optimistically proceeding as if things are going to work out, contrary to the evidence that things are really falling apart. Yet still we continue to tell ourselves that everything’s fine,” she adds, laughing. “It’s really just my way of lying to myself.”
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